rssFederal Appeals Court Rejects Torture Victims’ Suit (Again)
Friday, April 24, 2009 at 3:22 pm
- 2 Comments
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled today (pdf) that four British men who say they were tortured while imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay have no right to seek damages from U.S. government officials.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the ten other senior military officials named in the lawsuit have immunity, the court ruled, because “[n]o reasonable government official would have been on notice that plaintiffs had any Fifth Amendment or Eighth Amendment rights.” Although the Supreme Court ruled last June in Boumediene v. Bush that detainees at Guantanamo have the right to habeas corpus, the court today ruled that “At the time of their detention, neither the Supreme Court nor this court had ever held that aliens captured on foreign soil and detained beyond sovereign U.S. territory had any constitutional rights…”
The case, Rasul v. Myers, which I’ve written about here and here, was on remand from the Supreme Court, which had instructed the D.C. Circuit to reconsider its previous ruling dismissing the case in light of the high court’s decision in Boumediene. To the dismay of many civil rights advocates, the Obama administration, like the Bush administration before it, insisted that even if the men were tortured, the case should be dismissed because U.S. government officials could not have known at the time that they were violating established rights, so they’re entitled to immunity.
The D.C. district court that initially heard this case had similarly dismissed the constitutional claims, but ruled that the four former prisoners had rights to sue under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, because they hadn’t been allowed to practice their religion and their Korans had been desecrated. The appellate court today reaffirmed its earlier decision that because the men are “aliens” and not residents of the United States, they are not “persons” entitled to protection under the statute.
Reached this afternoon, Katherine Toomey, a lawyer at the firm Baach Robinson & Lewis, which is representing the four British men along with the Center for Constitutional Rights, said that the lawyers are now considering whether to ask for a re-hearing by the full court of appeals, or to seek review again in the Supreme Court.
2 Comments
Comment posted April 26, 2009 @ 11:45 pm
GEORGETOWN UNIV LAW SCHOOL ~ REPRESSION OF BLACK AMERICANS IN 2008 ???
LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS HAS WRITTEN MANY PREVIOUS ARTICLES ABOUT THE DECADES OLD NEGLECT AND ABUSE OF MIDDLE CLASS AND WORKING POOR AMERICANS BY THE U.S.CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD CONCERNING THEIR LACK OF INTEREST IN AFFORDING POORER AMERICANS PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION WITHIN OUR U.S. FEDERAL APPEAL JUDICIAL PROCESS.
OUR COUNTRY IS OBVIOUSLY ALSO LACKING THE HONEST , BRAVE AND CARING U.S. FEDERAL APPEAL JUDGES AND UNIV FEDERAL APPEAL LAW T EACHING FACULTY NEEDED TO COME FORWARD AND SPEAK FRANKLY ABOUT THIS DREADED INJUSTICE THAT CONTINUES TO INFLICT GRAVE HARM ON OUR POORER AMERICAN CITIZENS ALL ACROSS OUR NATION !!!
*** LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS BELIEVES THAT 20/20, 60 MINUTES, FRONTLINE AND ALL OUR OTHER VARIOUS NATIONAL MEDIA OUTLETS HAVE FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON TURNED A BLIND EYE TO REPORTING THE TRUTH ABOUT THIS BLATANT FACADE AND HORROR OF A U.S. FEDERAL APPEAL JUDICIAL PROCESS !
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL HELP IS OBVIOUSLY NEEDED IN HELPING TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR POORER AMERICANS WILL NOT CONTINUE TO BE FALSELY EXECUTED AND INCARCERATED IN AMERICA !!!
DEAR MR.PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD OF IRAN,IN THE NAME OF WORLD PEACE AND GOOD WILL,WE HOPE YOU AND YOUR COUNTRY WILL MAKE AN OFFER OF A FUTURE PRISONER EXCHANGE WITH BLACK AMERICANS TROY DAVIS OF GEORGIA AND MUMIA ABU – JAMAL OF PA IN EXCHANGE FOR THE RELEASE OF OUR AMERICAN JOURNALIST ROXANA SABERI ???
MR. PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD,
THIS PLANET OF OURS NEEDS PLENTY MORE PEACE MAKERS LIKE YOURSELF AND OUR NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT OBAMA! LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS HOPES AND PRAYS THAT BOTH OUR COUNTRIES CAN END THIS COLD WAR BETWEEN IRAN AND AMERICA WITH A PROPOSED FORMAL INTERNATIONAL PRISONER EXCHANGE AVAILABLE TO BE WITNESSED BY THE ENTIRE WORLD.
MR.PRESIDENT,
BY IRAN RELEASING OUR AMERICAN JOURNALIST ROXANA SABERI IN EXCHANGE FOR TWO CAPTIVE BLACK AMERICAN PRISON INMATES (TROY DAVIS OF GEORGIA & MUMIA ABU-JAMAL OF PA.),THE WORLD CAN BEHOLD HOW FAR IRAN WILL TRAVEL TO BE SEEN AND WITNESSED AS A GRACIOUS FUTURE INTERNATIONAL PEACE MAKER!
MR.PRESIDENT,
AMERICA HAS MANY VERY CARING ENVOY'S THAT I'M SURE WOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR SUCH A PEACE MISSION IF YOU AND YOUR COUNTRY DECIDE TO AGREE TO TO THIS UNIQUE PRISONER EXCHANGE ! **MR.JESSE JACKSON AND BILL RICHARDSON ARE TWO SPECIAL AMERICANS THAT ARE SEASONED AND VERY ADEPT AT THESE TYPE OF PEACE PROPOSALS ?
MR.PRESIDENT,
THIS WOULD TRUELY BECOME A GREAT WAY TO SOLIDIFY OUR NEW AND VITAL FUTURE RELATIONS AS OUR TWO GREAT COUNTRIES CAN SURELY HEAL OUR DIFFERENCES AND BEGIN TO WORK HAND IN HAND TO MAKE OUR WORLD A BETTER PLACE FOR ALL CITIZENS TO RESIDE.
MR.PRESIDENT,
IF FOR ANY REASON OUR SELECTED PRISONER EXCHANGE CONCEPT INTERSTS YOU AND YOUR COUNTRY,YOU CAN CERTAINLY FEEL FREE TO CONTACT US AT OUR E MAIL ADDRESS lawyersforpooramericans@yahoo.com OR CALL US DIRECTLY AT 424-247-2013.
LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS LOOKS FORWARD TO SPEAKING WITH YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND WE OFFER OUR HAND OF FRIENDSHIP TO ALL OF IRAN IN HOPES OF OUR TWO COUNTRIES POSITIVE FUTURE RELATIONS ?
**THE BEST IS YET TO COME FOR A PLANET IN GREAT NEED OF C*H*A*N*G*E …..
LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS HAS OTHER WRITTEN ARTICLES WHICH CAN BE FOUND WITH A WWW NAME SEARCH OF OUR VOLUNTEER LOBBY ON GOOGLE & YAHOO.
lawyersforpooramericans@yahoo.com(424-247-2013)
Comment posted April 27, 2009 @ 6:45 am
GEORGETOWN UNIV LAW SCHOOL ~ REPRESSION OF BLACK AMERICANS IN 2008 ???
LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS HAS WRITTEN MANY PREVIOUS ARTICLES ABOUT THE DECADES OLD NEGLECT AND ABUSE OF MIDDLE CLASS AND WORKING POOR AMERICANS BY THE U.S.CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD CONCERNING THEIR LACK OF INTEREST IN AFFORDING POORER AMERICANS PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION WITHIN OUR U.S. FEDERAL APPEAL JUDICIAL PROCESS.
OUR COUNTRY IS OBVIOUSLY ALSO LACKING THE HONEST , BRAVE AND CARING U.S. FEDERAL APPEAL JUDGES AND UNIV FEDERAL APPEAL LAW T EACHING FACULTY NEEDED TO COME FORWARD AND SPEAK FRANKLY ABOUT THIS DREADED INJUSTICE THAT CONTINUES TO INFLICT GRAVE HARM ON OUR POORER AMERICAN CITIZENS ALL ACROSS OUR NATION !!!
*** LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS BELIEVES THAT 20/20, 60 MINUTES, FRONTLINE AND ALL OUR OTHER VARIOUS NATIONAL MEDIA OUTLETS HAVE FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON TURNED A BLIND EYE TO REPORTING THE TRUTH ABOUT THIS BLATANT FACADE AND HORROR OF A U.S. FEDERAL APPEAL JUDICIAL PROCESS !
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL HELP IS OBVIOUSLY NEEDED IN HELPING TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR POORER AMERICANS WILL NOT CONTINUE TO BE FALSELY EXECUTED AND INCARCERATED IN AMERICA !!!
DEAR MR.PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD OF IRAN,IN THE NAME OF WORLD PEACE AND GOOD WILL,WE HOPE YOU AND YOUR COUNTRY WILL MAKE AN OFFER OF A FUTURE PRISONER EXCHANGE WITH BLACK AMERICANS TROY DAVIS OF GEORGIA AND MUMIA ABU – JAMAL OF PA IN EXCHANGE FOR THE RELEASE OF OUR AMERICAN JOURNALIST ROXANA SABERI ???
MR. PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD,
THIS PLANET OF OURS NEEDS PLENTY MORE PEACE MAKERS LIKE YOURSELF AND OUR NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT OBAMA! LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS HOPES AND PRAYS THAT BOTH OUR COUNTRIES CAN END THIS COLD WAR BETWEEN IRAN AND AMERICA WITH A PROPOSED FORMAL INTERNATIONAL PRISONER EXCHANGE AVAILABLE TO BE WITNESSED BY THE ENTIRE WORLD.
MR.PRESIDENT,
BY IRAN RELEASING OUR AMERICAN JOURNALIST ROXANA SABERI IN EXCHANGE FOR TWO CAPTIVE BLACK AMERICAN PRISON INMATES (TROY DAVIS OF GEORGIA & MUMIA ABU-JAMAL OF PA.),THE WORLD CAN BEHOLD HOW FAR IRAN WILL TRAVEL TO BE SEEN AND WITNESSED AS A GRACIOUS FUTURE INTERNATIONAL PEACE MAKER!
MR.PRESIDENT,
AMERICA HAS MANY VERY CARING ENVOY'S THAT I'M SURE WOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR SUCH A PEACE MISSION IF YOU AND YOUR COUNTRY DECIDE TO AGREE TO TO THIS UNIQUE PRISONER EXCHANGE ! **MR.JESSE JACKSON AND BILL RICHARDSON ARE TWO SPECIAL AMERICANS THAT ARE SEASONED AND VERY ADEPT AT THESE TYPE OF PEACE PROPOSALS ?
MR.PRESIDENT,
THIS WOULD TRUELY BECOME A GREAT WAY TO SOLIDIFY OUR NEW AND VITAL FUTURE RELATIONS AS OUR TWO GREAT COUNTRIES CAN SURELY HEAL OUR DIFFERENCES AND BEGIN TO WORK HAND IN HAND TO MAKE OUR WORLD A BETTER PLACE FOR ALL CITIZENS TO RESIDE.
MR.PRESIDENT,
IF FOR ANY REASON OUR SELECTED PRISONER EXCHANGE CONCEPT INTERSTS YOU AND YOUR COUNTRY,YOU CAN CERTAINLY FEEL FREE TO CONTACT US AT OUR E MAIL ADDRESS lawyersforpooramericans@yahoo.com OR CALL US DIRECTLY AT 424-247-2013.
LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS LOOKS FORWARD TO SPEAKING WITH YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND WE OFFER OUR HAND OF FRIENDSHIP TO ALL OF IRAN IN HOPES OF OUR TWO COUNTRIES POSITIVE FUTURE RELATIONS ?
**THE BEST IS YET TO COME FOR A PLANET IN GREAT NEED OF C*H*A*N*G*E …..
LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS HAS OTHER WRITTEN ARTICLES WHICH CAN BE FOUND WITH A WWW NAME SEARCH OF OUR VOLUNTEER LOBBY ON GOOGLE & YAHOO.
lawyersforpooramericans@yahoo.com(424-247-2013)
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